Nothing to be Afraid of in the bush.

When i was a young fellar on the farm in central west NSW you always had big brother and his mates ready to set you up for another one of their tricks and i have to admit they were creative. Even my cousins visits from boarding school were not spared; like out rabbiting one moon lit night and Warren started with the Yowie escaped from Western Plains Zoo story, a tug on the sleeve from my cousin Christopher,"What's a yowie Mick' ah it's like a big ape, But don't listen to Warrens crap he's full of @#$%. "The zoo is just the other side of those hills there"...."hey Mick can we go back to the house. Funny how opportunities come up in similar situations. I was out on my mates property and have known him for years and all the local yarns of the Yowies after a few extra ales. We had a young fellar out there rather enthusiastic with his .22 target shooting. So enthusiastic that's all he did for two days;i thought the novelty would ware off after a box. Anyway in these winter days you get the fire wood in before sunset and make dinner with both wood stove and wood heater stoked as the temperature droops to near freezing soon as the sun sets. Dinner done and a few ales near the wood heater talking about the next fix it job like broken axle or hydraulics or saw blade on mill. The yowie question came up from the young fella and i looked at me mate. I paused for this one. So after a yarm about the footprints in the sandy creek twice bigger than a size 9 shoe and the dogs hiding under the ute, didn't seem to satisfy the young fella. So i said ah nothing to be afraid of in the bush...except the female Yowie they like the white boys. Me mate almost choked on his wine got up to get more wood. So Mick tell me about this yowie have you seen one what do they look like. Well they see you long before you see them they pick up your sent and they watch you; if you get errie silence like all the birds disappear like the day the dogs hid under the ute you may get a musty smell in the air. The female is particularly dangerous if you see one with large hairy breasts that's alpha female,do not make eye contact slowly walk away backwards if she likes the look of your arse your in big trouble. If you hear GRRRRROOOOW like Chewbacca on star wars run like hell she thinks your fair game know what i mean. I could see me mate was struggling and couldn't contain his straight face and broke down hysterically and the young fella demanded IS HE SERIOUS ARE YOU JOKING I couldn't keep a straight face anymore DAAAAAAH that's not funny Mick...@#$% had me worried.

Used to get similar stories about Bunyips in the early 60's. Twas around the time there were a lot of axe and hatchet murders happening in Gippsland Victoria.
Jaros

Ha Ha...I've jinxed myself now i'll be out in the forest with the MD and the dogs will hide under the ute and notice an eerie silence and that musty smell in the air. GRRRRROOOOW. LOL.

Mick.

haha..or you could curl up with some of my stories from the days of yore at.... A true story '''or''' Gold in my Veins.

Was out and about exploring our amazing wilderness a couple of weeks ago. Walking along a creek in the middle of the forest by myself, enjoying my free time alone.
Came to a corner that looked promising. As I was approaching it I had to jump a few fallen trees and large rocks so naturally I was looking downwards making sure I had my feet in the right place and looking at the areas for my next step/s.
No word of a lie, there was a footprint in the ground that was either an awesome muck around job, or was the real thing. I highly doubt it was authentic, because what ever would have left it would have been monsterous. Looked like a dinosaur print.
I stopped thinking "would ya look at that!?" ...then laughed, then paused, then smirked, then paused again and was somewhat creeped out. Looking around to see if I could see any more, I quietly walked onwards as if I didn't see it.
...but what ever, hey? Lol. ...been wanting to tell someone about that.

You should of told that fella that Mrs yowie likes the young guys with the big gun... :lol:

When I was young, just 45-50 years back I would go camping with my brothers and/or friends to Lake Manchester. Dad gave us instructions to climb the mountain, follow the ridge, cross the saddle, follow the ridge again etc. We had a fool proof mental map on how to get there.

He knew us well enough to know that if we ever failed to find our way we would certainly find our way home again. I have three brothers and three sisters so perhaps he was secretly just trying to reduce the numbers . His safety message was, if ever you are lost in the bush go downhill and then downstream. This way you'll always find water and most likely find people. So far we've been fortunate enough to have never been lost in the bush.



On this particular trip I went with one of my brothers and three friends. We set up camp on the side of the lake and fished during the day. Late in the afternoon heavy clouds came in and the temperature dropped. We started to get some huge drops of rain so we huddled together with our camping gear and used an old tarp that was intended for a ground sheet to shield us from the rain. Within a few minutes we were bombarded with golf ball sized hail that just punched right through the tarp. We then hid under our old army blankets and a sleeping bag that one of the guys had. The hail was fierce enough to puncture the outer skin on the sleeping bag exposing the capoc filling. The hailstones were white with clear ice spikes sticking out. We survived without injury but everything was soaking wet and we were freezing cold. We never prepared for this sort of weather.

We knew of the remains of an old cattle yard with a small shed, most likely a pump shed, a few hundred yards away. We made our way to the shed but there was barely room for five kids. We needed a fire so we lit it against the outside of the iron so the inside was really toasty. It still filled with smoke so we had to keep the door partly open while we tried to get some sleep. Late that night the rain had cleared but we started to hear some terrifying noises coming from nearby. We knew there were dingos but the sounds were not the usual howl and they came and went. Just as we thought they had moved on the noises would come again. We need to stoke the fire but nobody wanted to go outside.

It was a cold and miserable night but we made it through and stepped out to a clear but windy morning. The noises started again only it was daytime and the dingos never hung around so close to camp in the daytime. My brother and I got game enough to carefully work our way through the bush to see what was going on. We found two trees, one with its branch wedged into the fork of another about ten metres up. The branches had worn away so that the dead wood on each tree was rubbing together when the wind blew at a certain angle. The sounds that came from the wet dead wood rubbing together was unbelievable. That was the most scary sounds I've ever heard in the bush.

Being with a group of friends you had to be brave but nobody was brave enough to go outside and stoke the fire :|

Thats gold lads.....love the old bush yarns, you have brought me back a few years!

Makes me think of the old days Rabbitin and catchin feral cats in the traps seeing who was game enough with a blunt machete....those things are nasty critters!

Howlin up the main track at midnight on a YZ100 E

Many thanks Mick and Phil

Used to professionally trap and shoot rabbits out around Eldorado (Vic) back in the early seventies and feral cats took some serious effort to subdue, they wanted to fight ya. A Laying Ace to the back of the head usually did the trick after a couple of goes. Along with wild dogs, they are the worst feral animal you can get in the Aussie bush in my opinion.

The forest country is countless thousands of acres and the old bush fellars have some unusual tails of the bush anything possible out there i guess. They also have some handy info too. The house is in a about 150 acre clearing and when you get on the quad and ride for half day on a forest trail it helps you appreciate how big the forest is. There are areas the aboriginals won't go. Gingi spirit bad mischievous spirit Dorougie woman and expect trouble. I went on a night ride and turned back just didn't feel right uneasy happens to the foresters sometimes too apparently just don't feel easy like your being watched. Now although noting bad has happened it's always in the back of your mind to be careful and if your out there on your own you are a long way from help. Bush fire and branches/falling timber called widow makers. Year I've been lucky on one occasion there too. I have been warned about wild dogs and my two dogs will get killed if they encounter them also if they don't have collars on they will be shot; always on the chain at night and not wandering in the day for that matter. I've heard the wild dogs howling in the hills at night but haven't seen them yet, seen foot prints and know they will move in on you as they can pick your scent from a long way. I always take water, dog chains, occasional E perb, knife, bandage, puncture kit, chainsaw,and shotgun if i go a good distance into the hills. Ring from house phone and ring when i get back or neighbor will come looking that will be a long drive so you wont be popular if you forget we also have local CB channel,call code too. I was raised in the central west, you can encounter a angry king brown and the shot gun did save me once...lucky. Legend years ago was a kid died from snake bite on our property, too far to hospital ran out of petrol apparently. My friend was bitten by copper head in the rocky hills we played in and he was blue in the face by the time he got to hospital he survived but not the same, seemed to always be vague slow after it don't know kids perception i guess. My pocket money was rabbit skins and my dog got smashed by a feral cat once i saw the fur fly from a distance and he came back tail between legs with a slashed eye lid, and nose, looking at me like what the hell was that. Bush life can be hard in drought but is a good life and always drawn back to the bush. Heading back out to the farm tomorrow, gunna be cold, first job will be firewood.

Mick.

I think I inherited my fathers family trait of being a bit of a practical joker.

About ten years ago some friends & I decided to do a 4X4 up country trip. Eight mates in four vehicles up through Dargo & down into Butcher country.
As I had a bit of warning I decided to spice the trip up.
I had recorded a doco on TV called Eternal Enemies (I think). It was about the never ending battle between hyenas & lions in Africa. It was a no b*ll sh!t show with no mamby pamby back ground music . Just the sounds of terrifying battles.. to the death sometimes. One afternoon before the trip I sat down with an audio tape recorder in front of the TV, put in a new blank audio tape into the tape recorder & forwarded about twenty minutes into the tape. I then started editing through the recorded TV doco until I got to a few of the fight scenes between the lions & the hyenas. I turned the volume down until it was barely audible & recorded the sounds. I then forwarded about five or six minutes & turned the volume up a bit & recorded another savage stoush. I then forwarded another couple of minutes, turned the volume higher & recorded again.
I continued doing this at different intervals, each time a bit louder until the volume was flat out towards the end of the tape.
At the time I owned a go anywhere short wheel base Land Cruiser. It had a kick ass audio system with a high quality tape player & matching speakers mounted in the back barn doors. I put the tape in & had a listen & I must admit it sounded terrifying.blood curdling roaring & snarling & very clear with no back ground hissing or crackling.
Forward to the trip....... On the second day we called at the Dargo pub for a beer & stretch. As luck would have it some wag had put an article in the window of the pub about black panthers in the high country. We read the story & the boys had a giggle about hill billies believing in wild big cats.
The next day we did Zeka spur & Butcher country & ended up camping on the Macalister River.
That night after tea we sat around a roaring fire enjoying a few ales. I announced that one of the gum trees I was parked under looked unsafe so I moved the 4x4 about fifty meters away & out of the ring of fire light. While there I open the barn doors & put the tape in the player & pressed play. As I said earlier I had forwarded twenty minutes into the tape before recording so I went back & sat down to a few more beers. Around twenty minutes later one of the group thought he had heard something. We all stopped & listened but couldnt hear anything. Six minutes later he again thought he heard something.. this time another mate said he had heard it too. I sat there hiding my smile behind my stubby trying not to laugh & telling them they were drunk & hearing things. A few minutes later the tape started playing again & half of the group jumped out of their chairs There . You must have heard that . What is it? We all stopped & listened.. silence. By now the mate that had heard it first (sh!t he must have good hearing) was telling everyone I told you I heard something but no. you all said I was hearing things. What the hell can it be. After some worried conversations & a lot of speculation to which I answered I dont know.. Ive never heard anything like it in all my time in the bush we had all just sat down again when the tape fired up again & this time I think they would have heard it back in Dargo. I bolted away into the darkness screaming about black panthers & I could hear others also running. A couple of blokes locked themselves in their cars & some went for the safety of their tents. It was too much for me by then.. I rolled on the ground laughing, my sides ached & streams of tears ran down my face. Sh1t it was funny.. for me.
As the mates reappeared from the darkness the sheepish excuses began....... I knew what was going on. I was just playing along.
Needless to say I was not the flavor of the month that night but next morning there were smiles & laughter about our close encounter. I still have the tape at home.
Rob.